Product reviews for Bringing Forth the Bard

With the publication of Bringing Forth the Bard, educator and author Zoe Enser equips busy teachers with the core knowledge that will enable them to make links between the themes, characters, language and allusions in Shakespeare's oeuvre. Each chapter includes tips on how to bring his plays to life in the classroom, and features case studies from practicing teachers in a range of contexts to illustrate how they can ensure that their students develop an appreciation of his work – moving beyond the requirements of exams and empowering them to engage in the discussion around his influence and enduring appeal.

Underpinned by Zoe's academic enquiries on the subject, at both undergraduate and master's level, the book enables teachers to access the information they need in order to enrich their teaching beyond a single play and begin to unpick the threads of Shakespeare's work as a whole. The link between subject knowledge and pedagogical approaches runs throughout the book, focusing on the Shakespeare plays most popularly taught in the classroom and how we can enrich students' understanding of these by looking both at the links across the domain and the bigger picture his work presents.

Zoe builds a detailed schema of Shakespeare's work, his world, his ideas and his influences – and offers signposts to further reading and provides an appendix which will support teachers to rapidly find references to the plays they are teaching, and the ideas related to them.

An absolute must-read selection for any classroom teacher working with their students on a Shakespeare curriculum, Bringing Forth the Bard is the ideal instructional guide and one that will ensure successfully engaging and inspiring students with what Shakespeare has to offer with respect to our appreciation of great literature and our understanding of human behavior. It is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, college and university library Education Instruction collections in general, and Shakespeare Instruction supplemental studies curriculum syllabus in particular.